This week we got freezing weather, snow and ice. People here are not good at driving in such weather but I don't have to drive much anymore. I did get my first taste of "snow-footing" (barefoot in the snow) on Thursday morning but the snow was all gone by that afternoon.
On Tuesday I was lucky enough to witness (but not participate in) a shell game on the Max. Some guy got on at one of the stops downtown, sat beside me and just started playing the shell game on a newspaper. At first he gave away dollars to anyone who could guess where the ball was. Then he bet a guy (undoubtedly his partner) and lost $40. Then some guy on the other side of me bet him $100 on two separate bets and lost. Both the shell game guy and the first winner got off at the next stop. Two stops later, the loser guy says, "Did you notice those two guys got off at the same time?" Everybody in the car looked at each other in disbelief. Duh!
This week the Kodak Personal Picture Maker 200 shipped. I led the development effort for the Macintosh drivers. We're all glad that it's done. I'll post reviews and links as I see them.
I found a very addictive web site a couple of weeks ago: Am I Hot Or Not. You should check it out for yourself, but the general idea is that normal people upload their pictures and then you get to rate them on a scale of 1 to 10. After you rate them, you see how your rating compares with the average rating. As you might expect, people are ruthless and brutal in their assessment. After you check out the main site, you can also go right for the hotties with this alternate site.
Current reading: Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson
Recent listening: Live & Kickin'/Asleep at the Wheel, The Beta Band, kid a/radiohead, The The
I switched the order of the picture list on Thomas' home page so that the most recent appear at the top. (User Interface design is everything!) I also added some pictures he took at a birthday party and of a favorite book. Graham's web site has some additions, too. I've got pictures from Thanksgiving that I still have to go through. Hopefully, I can do that before Christmas. :)
Current reading: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace
Recent listening: Yule Struttin': A Blue Note Christmas, A Very Special Christmas 3, Tribute to Jill/Jessie Rae & the Blue Turtles
Last month was a busy month for us. It seemed like we were socially engaged every weekend and even some weekdays. As has been the case in previous years, the two highlights for the month were our trip to the Pumpkin Patch and a costume Halloween Party.
Thomas's web site has some new pictures including Thomas showing off his "creation book", one great one from the Pumpkin Patch and some pictures he took. Meanwhile, I also added pictures to Graham's web site from some of the Pumpkin Patch visit.
We started out this month with a bang when Tina and I went to see Pearl Jam at the Rose Garden Arena on Thursday, November 2. I got tickets through the fan club over 8 months ago but did not know where they were located until I picked them up that night: 9th row on the floor. Suffice to say we were quite elated and enjoyed the concert tremendously. Sometime back we also saw Neil Young and Beck at the Rose Garden but only had 13th row floor tickets for that night.
The upcoming election has resulted in a media bombardment of political messages. Aside from the Presidential, Congressional, state and local elections, Oregon has more than 20 initiatives on the ballot this year. The media situation is worsened, however, by the fact that Oregon is a so-called swing state so we get to see lots of Presidential negative campaigning. The worst of these comes from the Democrats as they admit that their candidate sucks, but please don't vote for a third party candidate since it would result in the Republican being elected. I think they should simplify it to "We suck less than the other guy."
If you live in a swing state (or any state, for that matter), forget about strategizing and candidate viability. Vote for the candidate that you think can do the best job. That's the way that the system was designed. If we believe the media when they posit that a candidate has no chance, he doesn't. But imagine this: what if a good third party candidate came along and everyone just voted for the best man for the job?
Here's a review of the Lexmark Z32, a printer for which I was the lead software engineer for Macintosh drivers. Not a completely glowing review, but not bad. I was also pleased to see the Z32 on the shelves during a recent visit to Costco. I told Thomas, "That's the printer that I worked on." He was duly unimpressed.
I recently discovered iPing, a free service that lets you schedule wake up calls and telephone reminders. You schedule them on the web and they call you at the scheduled time. Although I haven't found a practical use for it yet, you can find it it on my cool links page.
Current reading: Stereophile magazine
Recent listening: Pearl Jam, MP3s from a variety of CDs
It rained all day today reminding me that fall is nearly over and the rainy season is starting. I applied the finishing touches to the shed this weekend and mowed the lawn for (hopefully) the last time. I cleaned the gutters and the roof. We are hunkering down for the wet winter. After a month or so we won't see sunshine until mid-January.
I got some great pictures the other night when Thomas and Graham waited with me as Tina and Buddy shopped for ice cream. I also added some older pictures to Graham's web site of him getting in trouble and showing his tongue.
Current reading: Working: Studs Terkel
Recent listening: Midnight Vultures/Beck, Mud Slide Slim (& the Blue Horizon): James Taylor
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Since I've got so much camera bandwidth recently, I've been taking alot of pictures of people, places and things I see that I find interesting. Last week I took some related to the homeless and the riot that occurred near Pioneer Courthouse Square. Today I got the best set yet of a little dog begging for money at the Max stop. I also added a new section to my web site devoted to these pictures. |
Current reading: Steve Jobs and the Next Big Thing by Randall Stross
Recent listening: Faith & Courage/Sinead O'Connor, Mutations/Beck, Legend/Bob Marley, Midnight Vultures/Beck
Last weekend I celebrated my 34th birthday. My best birthday present was help from Buddy and Tom in fixing water damage to our backyard shed. Buddy and Tom did most of the work while I bank-rolled the operation, hammered a few nails and played gopher. We had to replace the roof and one of the walls but we got it done in a couple of days. On Saturday night, after the work was done for the day, Tina's mom, Jan, cooked a delicious dinner for us and some friends. A great birthday all-around!
Prior to the work on the shed I had been busy refurbishing our deck. I finally finished it this week and have included a few gratuitous pictures of the deck and the shed repairs here. Thomas also did some construction while we worked on the shed.
Last night Tina and I went to see Neil Young at the Rose Garden. We had seats in the 19th row on the floor, a first for us at the Rose Garden. We both enjoyed it immensely including the opening act, Beck. Next up, we're going to see Pearl Jam at the Rose Garden in November.
Current reading: Working by Studs Terkel, Steve Jobs and the Next Big Thing by Randall Stross
Recent listening: Faith & Courage/Sinead O'Connor, Bringing It All Back Home/Bob Dylan
After months of pictureless content, I finally broke down and bought a digital camera on eBay. I went with what I know and bought one just like the two we had when I worked at Splash. Needless to say, I've got some new pictures available now of Thomas and by Thomas. While I was at it, I finally put together Graham's web site. Watch this site this weekend for future updates including some of Graham and some weird ones I took.
Current reading: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (on page 906 of 1079)
Recent listening: Peace & Noise/Patti Smith, Dead Man Walking Soundtrack
Here's another review of the Lexmark Z52 printer for which I just finished updating the Macintosh drivers. Although I can't tell you what I'm working on right now, I did find this press release interesting. In the meantime, Splash Technology (my old employer) is being bought out by their biggest competitor, Electronics for Imaging. It's sort of the equivalent of Coke buying Pepsi.
Current reading: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (on page 703 of 1079)
Recent listening: Faith & Courage/Sinead O'Connor, Imagination/Brian Wilson
On Wednesday we returned from a mini-vacation near Roseburg, OR. We drove down last Saturday and returned this Wednesday. Here's a summary of our activities:
- Camped at Island, a small 6-spot campground about 1.5 hours east of Roseburg along the North Umpqua river. Successfully initiated our new large tent and our new small boy.
- Visited Crater Lake, a lake set in the crater of an ancient volcano. Crystal clear and quite unreal looking.
- Drove through the Wild Animal Safari park several times. Featuring animals from Asia, Africa and the Americas wandering around in large, open spaces. The highlight was when I punched the camel who stuck his head in the van to bite Tina on the butt.
- Attended a Michelle Shocked concert as part of Roseburg's free Concerts on the Half Shell series in a local park. Michelle was tremendous, as always. I'll be working up a mini-review sometime soon.
I got back in time to work a day and then we had a wonderful time at the Critical Path company picnic on Friday. Nine holes of pitch and putt golf followed by a barbeque dinner with my collegues.
Tina recently turned me on to half.com. I've bought several CDs and books from there and have been very happy so far. It doesn't offer the variety that eBay does, but it certainly is easier and faster.
Current reading: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (on page 590 of 1079)
Recent listening: Imagination/Brian Wilson, Michelle Shocked
Have been seeing television commercials for the Lexmark Z52 color inkjet printer lately. I am currently working on a bug fix release of the drivers for this printer. They don't mention me by name in the commercial.
Graham has been really into dancing lately and is fond of the fast and loud variety of rock and roll. He really digs House of Large Sizes, in particular. He dances by himself but also immensely enjoys dancing in Daddy's arms.
Current reading: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (on page 450 of 1079)
Recent listening: Gone Again/Patti Smith, whitechocolatespaceegg/Liz Phair
After hearing a story on NPR last weekend about the Dirty Sole Society, I surfed to their web site and was delighted to find confirmation of my belief that many anti-barefoot beliefs are not rooted in fact. Some examples: It is not illegal to drive barefoot, there are no health codes regarding barefootedness and there are no OSHA regulations concerning being barefoot in a place of business. This week I was accepted as a member.
Graham discovered his nose last week and walked around all week with his finger in it. Well, sometimes he would take it out and stick it in his ear. Thankfully, that phase passed quickly.
On Monday night, Thomas and I camped out in our new tent in the back yard. We had some problems with the cats and airplanes keeping us awake for awhile, but it was nice and cool and we enjoyed reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by flashlight.
Current reading: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (on page 405 of 1079)
Recent listening: This Is How It Feels/Golden Palominos, Classic Queen/Queen
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This past week Apple had a raft of cool new hardware introductions including a new mouse and keyboard, the G4 cube, new iMacs and dual processor G4 mini-towers. The cube is especially cool since it is only about the size of a large toaster but packs the power of a supercomputer (in marketing speak). The iMacs come in a new set of colors and now start below $800. |
Graham has nearly mastered the art of walking. He had started tentatively shortly before his first birthday and has been walking more and more as he grew more comfortable with it. Now he ambles wildly everywhere.
Current reading: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (on page 265 of 1079)
Recent listening: Binaural/Pearl Jam, Silver & Gold/Neil Young, Faith & Courage/Sinead O'Connor
Last Monday we returned from an awesome four-day weekend on the Oregon Coast. Tina's grandfather, Thomas Q. Schultz, invited all his children there for a week that culminated in a reunion of Tina's grandmother, Ruth's relatives. We had a wonderful time going to the beach, visiting local sites (all near Ruth's childhood home in Coquille, OR.) and just hanging out in the motel with Tina's dad, Tom's siblings and their children. Thomas especially enjoyed meeting and playing with all his new-found cousins.
| I found another review of the Lexmark Z52 of which I worked on the software. We shipped the software for another printer this week and there should be announcements next week during MacWorld. I'm enjoying this job more than any other in recent memory. |  |
Work has been quite busy during the last few months so updates to the web site have been few and far between. Fortunately, we have completed the software for the printer for which I was responsible. MacWorld UK recently reviewed the printer that I had previously worked on. Any mention of the "driver" is the part that I worked on.
A few weeks ago my mother visited us for a couple of weeks. Although she was on crutches the whole time, we still managed to have a fine time while she was here. She arrived in time for Graham's first birthday party and Thomas' pre-school graduation. Although she was here for most of Portland's world-famous Rose Festival, we didn't really attend any of the events.
Last week Tina engineered a major upgrade of our yard. She put down landscaping fabric over all the weedy spots and had a half ton (well, maybe a little less) of cedar chips dumped on our drive way for Father's Day. Jan, Uncle Buddy, Thomas, Tina and I spent the whole day filling the wheelbarrow and spreading it around. The results are stunning - the best the yard has looked since we've lived here.
Graham has been walking hesitantly for short distances for some time now. He is continuing to master the art of two legs but really moves along on all fours. Too fast for me sometimes as he scurries into my office before I can grab his leg. He is persistently willful and constantly testing his bounds. He is quite different than Thomas!
Thomas is adjusting to being out of school quite nicely. He's enjoying playing outside, swimming in his pool and helping mom with the yard work. He filled his little plastic wheelbarrow with many loads of cedar chips last week. He and I have been reading "James and the Giant Peach" at bedtime the last few weeks. It makes it easy to talk him into going to bed - no arguing.
I was a little under the weather for a couple of days this week. The boys had already had the stomach flu last week so we were not surprised when I got sick Wednesday night. I won't go into the gruesome details other than to say I lost five pounds in 24 hours. Not very enjoyable and I was glad when it was over.
I finished our taxes several weeks ago and filed both state and federal electronically. We were pleasantly surprised when we got back both refunds a week after filing. Federal electronic filing costs $10 but Intuit offers a $10 rebate for the service. State filing costs five or six dollars. I recommend it highly if you have a computer.
This week I ordered stamps online from the U.S. Post Office and was delighted with the experience. There is an additional one dollar service charge on an order but otherwise stamps cost the same as if you bought them at a local post office. And they deliver them to you. Way cool if you don't have convenient access to a post office!
A couple of weekends ago, we took a trip to Seattle. While in the Emerald City, we saw most of the sites including the Space Needle and the aquarium. We ate seafood and took a ferry ride which was the highlight of the trip. It was nice to get away but we were glad to get back home after three days away.
In the midst of an eBay purchase, I was introduced to a great service called PayPal that essentially lets you pay people via email. They give you $5 for signing up and never charge any fees. If you sign up, think of me and put my email address in the referral field. I've also put a link on my links page.
I finally got around to scanning in some pictures of the boys. I've got a few of Thomas at his birthday party and with his pre-school teacher. I got Graham in a variety of poses and he's cute in every one! Graham's web site is still in progress.
Things have been busy at Critical Path lately. We've had a number of deadlines that resulted in some very late nights but tomorrow is our shipping date. Our family is celebrating with a trip to Seattle this weekend. I did find time to write a letter to the editor of the Riceville Recorder last week. I suspect it appeared in this week's issue but you can read it here first.
The ankle has completely healed. It was a minor injury but it really made me appreciate how much work professional athletes have to put in to recover from the most minor injury.
Happy Valentine's Day!
My ankle is getting closer to being completely healed. Last week it reached the point where the swelling was all gone and it felt "normal" most of the time. However, I occasionally experience shooting pains accompanied by a popping feeling. The doctor told me that it was the nerves growing back together. The shooting pains have mostly subsided and I expect it all to be back to normal within two weeks.
Did anybody else see the NBA Slam Dunk contest last night? Vince Carter was simply amazing. There have been few times in my life when I've had great expectations met with an even higher performance. This was certainly one of them. Incredible!
Thomas had his fourth birthday party today and the theme was the Zoo. All the kids came dressed as zoo animals. Thomas and Graham were elephants. Thomas got a big pile of presents and all the kids enjoyed ripping them all open. I'll try to get some pictures on as soon as they are developed.
I found a pretty interesting link the other day. It's at the Center for Democracy and Technology and helps you "opt out" of junk mail and unsolicited phone calls. In Oregon recently they passed a law that says you can call the phone company to opt out of telemarketing. Way cool!
I spent most of last weekend and the two days prior flat on my back with my feet in the air. Thankfully, it made a huge difference and I have not had to use crutches this week at all. I did start using the ankle brace the ER doc gave me but I think tomorrow will the the last day for that. It's still a little sore at times and feels weak but it is definitely on the mend. I even twisted it slightly (but painfully) the other morning but it felt fine by the time I got to work. Definitely a good sign.
Critical Path has been fun so far. It's a bigger office than I've worked in before but their all nerds and geeks, so I fit right in. Aside from my ankle problems, I 've been enjoying the commute, too. I forgot how interesting people are in that environment. I've also been doing alot of reading lately.
I had thought that using crutches would give me a certain cachet on the Max. I thought people would be kind enough to clear the way and let me sit down. I couldn't have been more wrong. I even had a guy step in front of me and immediately stop as I rushed to get on the just arrived train. He was in a rush, too, since he stopped right in front of me to get a ticket from the ticket machine. I really wanted to say something to him, but I had to hurry all the more to get on the train before it left. The rudeness wouldn't bother me so much if it was just me since I'm only on crutches for a week or two, but I have to assume that permanently disabled people receive the same kind of treatment. It is quite frustrating.
Splash announced their financial results for the fourth quarter of 1999 and they were quite good. If you read the press release you'll note the many mentions of the G610/G-series of controllers. That is the product that our team worked on last year. I'm quite proud of it and it seems like it has really helped the company. The Street responded well briefly, but the stock price is back down below where I sold it, so I still feel good about my decision. :)
Last week Splash stock saw a significant rise on the market and I took advantage of the situation. It was the first time I ever sold stock for a significant gain so it was an enlightening experience. Too bad Uncle Sam has to take such a big slice.
Saturday morning it was nasty cold outside with frosted roads and shallow puddles frozen over. As I walked out of my optometrists office I slipped on one of those little puddles. My left foot went out from under me but I caught myself with my right foot. Unfortunately, my right foot rolled over quite painfully and I ended up rolling on the ground in pain for the next several minutes. I heard or felt a slight pop as I fell toward the pavement so naturally I worried that I might have broken it. A long trip to the ER proved otherwise but I have nevertheless had to spend the weekend with my leg in the air and my head on a pillow. Finally got a good start on my backlog of AMC movies, though.
Midnight, January 1 came and went without any major catastrophies. We celebrated quietly at home with family. Neither Thomas nor Graham made it to the big moment. All my Y2K preparedness all seems to have gone for naught. Anybody want to buy some toilet paper?
Everybody who was sick is on the road to recovery. It turns out that Tina has bronchitis so she's trying to get lots of rest. Graham is sleeping better now so that helps.
I start my first official day of work for Critical Path tomorrow and am excited to get started on a new project. I actually worked there one day unofficially last week in order to be eligible for health insurance benefits this month.